After taking herself over a jump during her warm up a couple of times, my student turned to me and said “I'm scared to jump.”

“Good," I said. 

She frowned. “Why is that good?”

For context my group riders ride in open order not head-to-tail follow the leader. It's not a good business model but it is a good rider development model. The riders are far more responsible for the quality of communication with the horse, softness of the aids and understand what is required of them to warm their horse up properly for work. So this rider has popped herself over the jump a couple of times as she warmed up and her horse has picked up speed and scared her. 

So why did I say good?

Because this was her second time on this particular horse that she knows is far more sensitive than she's used to and when she was warming up she couldn't stop him and hasn't developed acceptance of contact with him. But she blew through all those cues without thought and jumped anyway. 

So I said it's a good thing you're scared. You jumped a jump when you couldn't stop your horse or slow them down on approach. That's the right thing to be scared of. You should have paid more attention to that before you jumped.

This is a great lesson for a rider to learn and that's why i said to her it was good she was scared because she has stopped herself and can refine her training before trying again. 

Fear isn't always the enemy. Some of our fears are legitimate and worth paying attention to.

Everything that has scared me enough as a rider to put the skids on has been a huge and important lesson for the development of my riding. Like having a horse broncing as you mount, having a horse fall over and crush my foot because I rushed her training and she lost her balance.

All lessons I could’ve learnt and should've learnt as a beginner but I was in a rush to get through that process too.